We Descend
We Descend is a work of electronic literature by American author Bill Bly. This work encompasses four different versions from 1997 through 2023 and was originally written in Storyspace and published by Eastgate Systems (1997).
Plot and structure
[edit]We Descend is a collection of writings passed along over many generations. The work has a default path which introduces us to these various assemblages and putative writers.[1] "The story spans four timelines, beginning with a future post-apocalyptic storyline of Egderus who digs down through eons of data to reconstruct cultural history, encountering, along the way, writings by an ancient who calls himself the Last One. The metaphor of the “archaeological dig” serves “to visualize time”[2] Bly uses hypertext linking to collate and annotate this archive and to create hidden writings that exist "behind gated links that may unlock truths about the archive."[3]
Publication history and influences
[edit]The work was originally published on stand-alone floppy disks (one for Mac and one for PC)[4] from Eastgate Systems in 1997,[5][6] in the form later called Volume 1. Excerpts from We Descend were published in Word Circuits in 1996.[7] The online journal, New River (Virginia Tech) brought out Volume 2 in its Fall, 2017 edition, and subsequently, a preliminary view of Volume 3 appeared in the same journal in Fall 2019. The NEXT Museum, Library, and Preservation Space presented Volume 3 in 2023.[8][2][9] Volume 2 was created using Tinderbox.[10] The Bill Bly collection at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities houses notes and various early versions of We Descend. [11][12] This work was featured in Pathfinders traversals in 2015.[13]
Brian Davis calls this work "an early exemplar of 'archival fiction,'” and notes that this ongoing work is also "one of the longest running hypertext sagas in electronic literary history."[3] Bernstein traces We Descend's roots to Michael Joyce's afternoon.[14] This work was also one of the subject works for the Pathfinders Project with Dene Grigar and Stuart Moulthrop.[15] As Grigar explains, "Ultimately, what We Descend suggests is that we––all humans––are capable of descending and ascending, depending on how heroically we fight for the truth, how hard we work to place truth at the center of our lives."[16] The Electronic Literature Directory notes that "We Descend is a work unmatched in its levels of complexity and thoughtfulness. As a result, it has captured the attention of scholars (such as Dene Grigar, Mark Bernstein, and Susana Tosca) who have written essays on the subject, and has been showcased at the Electronic Literature Organization’s media art show State of the Arts in 2002."[17]
Astrid Ensslin analyzed We Descend as a literary hypertext in Canonizing Hypertext: Explorations and Constructions.[18]
References
[edit]- ^ Davis, Brian; Bly, Bill (2019-03-03). "Descending into the Archives: An Interview with Hypertext Author Bill Bly". Electronic Book Review.
- ^ a b "Celebrating the Release of Bill Bly's We Descend, The Complete Edition". Electronic Literature Lab. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ a b Ghosal, Torsa, ed. (2023). Global perspectives on digital literature: a critical introduction for the twenty-first century. Abingdon, Oxon New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-003-21491-5.
- ^ Van Looy, Jan (January 2002). "23 reasons not to read We Descend by Bill Bly". Dichtung Digital. Archived from the original on June 3, 2025.
- ^ "Bill Bly". www.eastgate.com. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ "We Descend". www.eastgate.com. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ "Cover". wordcircuits.com. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ "We Descend, The Complete Edition". The NEXT. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ "Pathfinders Chapter 5: Bill Bly's We Descend". The NEXT. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ "Authoring Software - Process - Bill Bly". narrabase.net. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ "Bill Bly Collection". mith.umd.edu. November 2011. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ "We Descended: Processing the Bill Bly Collection with the UMD Born-Digital Working Group". Maryland Institute for Technologies in the Humanities. October 12, 2012.
- ^ "Pathfinders: Introduction to Pathfinders". Pathfinders. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
- ^ Bernstein, Mark (2004-11-06). "Card Shark and Thespis". Electronic Book Review.
- ^ "June 5: Web-book chronicles history of digital literature | WSU Insider | Washington State University". archive.news.wsu.edu. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ Grigar, Dene. "We All Descend". Pathfinders. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ "We Descend | Electronic Literature Directory". directory.eliterature.org. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
- ^ Ensslin, Astrid (2007). Canonizing hypertext: explorations and constructions. Continuum literary studies. London: Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-9558-7.
External links
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